Love You
by network
Summary: A series of ficelts based around the relationships in the Animorphs series. Part 2 is up.
1. When to Love Rachel

_Before  
_I am cornered in the bathroom and get my face bashed in, a knee in the stomach, a kick in the kidneys - the usual. I have a split lip and the beginnings of a black eye. I clean myself up before entering the hallway. I watch her - and her shining blond hair - walk untouched through the crowd. She walks alone. As she passes me, her think pink lips spread into a smile across her face. My heart jumps into my throat and my insides don't settle back down for an hour.

_War  
_I tag along with all of them mostly because I have no one else and partly because she is gorgeous. Cassie has pity for me but I ignore it. Marco thinks I'm a loser and doesn't try to hide it. They all think I'm crazy when I say I see a UFO. We are all frightened and don't know what to do. I can't leave the alien even when he asks me to - something draws me to him. But when I am finally pushed away I look at her and she is crying. But she smiles at me through her tears - she wanted to stay with him, too.

_Lunch  
_She suggests bringing patio furniture so she won't have to sit on the cold, wet grass. I tell her that might be a little suspicious. Giving up, she collapses on the ground and I flutter down from the tree. She has brought me a hamburger - she spends her Saturdays having lunch with a hawk. Even in my hawk body, her laugh makes my insides twist.

_During  
_I am pulled through time time like a rag doll through a puddle. I watch the first President cross a river with my friend wearing his extra pair of boots. I watch my leader get shot in the head. I fly around the bottom of a boat. She sprouts fur and climbs the ropes. I watch as she is split in half and I cannot help her. But when she reappears, human and whole, I kiss her.

_Battle  
_I am always the look-out - there is only so much damage a red-tailed hawk can do. She has firepower and lets me ride on her shoulder or back or any convenient spot when we are waiting. She inflicts damage and I fly around only to be crushed by a piece of ceiling. I can hear her desperate thought-speech and her angry roars. My wing is twisted underneath me but the plaster is lifted off me. _Oh my god, oh my god. Are you okay?_ Always.

_Alone_  
Sometimes it is hard to sleep. I fight the dead night air for some altitude. I can barely see - I'm not used to that. It is still easy to spot her house. I tap on the window pane and she opens the window to let me fly onto her bureau. She closes her bedroom door and doesn't complain about the test she has the next day and that she needs her rest. Instead she sits cross-legged at the edge of her bed and looks up at me.

_After  
_I am grateful for the hawk in my head. She is gone and I retreat into the woods. I don't want to be reminded of what I once was or what we once were. But in all truth I am excited when Jake comes to me for one more mission. We both know I would do it. And as I step onto the spaceship named after the gorgeous blond my stomach flip-flops. Even after wards, she makes my insides jump.


	2. How to Love Cassie

**I. **I always show up to meetings early just so I can watch her work. She gives me a knowing smile after I decline her offer to help. There is a picture in Jake's room of her in overalls shoving a pill down a badger's through – he says it is so he can always think of her. I prefer my way.

**II. **After missions she feels so guilty. I am tired and distraught and only have on bike shorts, but walk with her back to the barn, anyway. She looks up at the sky and says it is beautiful as I squeeze her hand.

**III.** We are almost the same height. She laughs as I kiss her eyelashes and cheeks. She says Jake is too tall. I tell her not to talk about him.

**IV. **We are supposed to interact in school – it might arouse suspicion. I lightly touch her arm as we pass in the hallway. I smile at her from across the lunchroom. I purposely sit behind her in English – and not just to cheat off of.

**V. **When Ax is out, she comes to the scoop; I sit with my arms around her. She comments on the quality of television shows these days. I kiss her on the forehead to make her blush. Then I kiss her lips and hold her closer. We don't watch the television.

**VI. **We sit below the night sky and look at stars that are no longer just burning white dots but entire civilizations. I grab her hand and intertwine my fingers with hers. She says something about the Yeerks but I tell her not to worry. And softly into her ear, my breath hot and heavy, I whisper, "Cassie, I will always keep you safe." And we both know I mean it.


End file.
